Spike.



- J. M. BYRD.

SHKE- APPLICATION FILED FEB. 26. l9l5.

1,154,482. PatentedSept. 21, 1915.

JOHN M. BYRCD, OF HAZLEHURST, GEORGIA.

SPIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 21,1915.

Application filed February 26, 1915. Serial No. 10,781.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. Brno, a' citizen of theUnited States,'residing at Hazlehurst, in the county of Jeff Davis and State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spikes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This'invention relates to spikes, and more particularly to a spike especially designed for use in securing railway rails to ties.

The invention has for its object to provide a shank with an inwardly directed longitudinal slot defining a pair of prongs adapted, when'the spike is driven into a tie or other object, to deflect or curve outwardly and thus reliably lock the spike against removal.

Another object is the provision ofa spike having a cutting, edge formed between and at the inner ends of the anchoring prongs to facilitate driving of the spike and to insure proper setting thereof.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation'of parts as will be hereinafter specifically described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 represents a transverse sectional view through a railroad tie, illustrating the improved spike applied to use. Fig. 2 rep resents a front elevation of the spike removed, and Fig. 3 represents alongitudinal sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

. Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference numerals designate cor-' responding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 5 indicates generally the shank of the-spike which is formed at one end with a preferred type of head 6 and is formed at its opposite end-with an inwardly directed longitudinal slit 7 defining a pair of anchoring tongues or prongs 8. Adjacent their inner ends, the prongs 8 are reduced in thickness, as indicated at 9, soas to weaken them at this point and thus lnsure bending thereof, and the inner surfaces of the free ends of the prongs are beveled downwardly and outwardly as at 8 to insure outward deflection thereof. The reduced inner extremities of the prongs 8 define a pair of shoulders 10 on the opposite-side faces of the spike.

Grooves or channels 11 are formed in the front and rear faces of the spike shank and constitute continuations of the slot 7. The grooves 11 gradually decrease in thickness toward the head 6 and terminate at a point substantially midway between the inner extremities of the prongs 9 and the head 6. The grooves 11 define a cutting edge 12 disposed centrally between the inner ends of the prongs 9.

. In use, the spike is driven into a tie or other object 15 inthe usual manner, the inner beveled surfaces 8 of the prongs causmg the free ends of the latter to be deflected or curved outwardly, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The edge 12 cuts the fibers of th object 15 as the spike is driven therein and the oppositely inclined walls of the grooves 11 insure against the body or shank being deflected laterally, as willbe understood.

What I claim is: p

1. A spike including a pair of anchoring prongs, and a cutting edge formed between said prongs. p

2. A spike including a shank having an inwardly directed longitudinal slot, and grooves formed in alinement with said slot extending longitudinally of the shank to define a cutting edge and terminating at a.

pair of anchoring prongs, a head at the opposite end of said shank, said shank having opposed grooves correspondingly inclined with. relation to the opposite faces of the shank and'converged to define a cutting edge between the inner ends of the prongs.

5. A spike including a shank having an inwardly directed longitudinal slot defining a pair of anchoring prongs, and having opposed ooves defining a concaved cutting edge disposed between the rongs.

-6...A spike including a s ank having an inwardly directed longitudinal slot defining thereof in eiinement with said slot and de 19 a pair of anchoring prongs, and having opfining a conoaved cutting edge disposed beposed grooves extending longitudinally tween said prongs. r thereof and defining a cutting edge disposed In testimony whereof I afiix my signature between the prongs. in presence of tWo witnesses.

7. A spike including'a shankehaving an' 7 JOHN M. BYRD.

inwardly directed longitudinal slot defining Witnesses:

a pair of anchoring prongs, and having op- JAMES R. GRANT, posed grooves extending longitudinally R. T. WILLIAMS. 

